brick making

A short distance from Mumosho is a river that meanders through a marshy floodplain. The clay ground above the water level is perfect for making bricks, and plots of land have been allocated to people who dig out the clay and produce thousands of rough-looking bricks. These are then carried half a kilometre to the dirt road where they are stacked and sold to local people and builders from Bukavu.

It’s hard work mostly done by tough, wiry men. Mwavita Cimwenya is equally as tough. She came to us with a plan to buy a plot of land out in the marsh and make bricks. Two years on and Mwavita is still making bricks and employs four men.

The first plot is not yet exhausted, but still she has saved enough to buy a second plot. She has replaced her mud hut with a house built from bricks and has been able to send all nine children to school, four to primary and five to secondary. She says she is making enough money to buy a third plot and believes the business will support her family and her employees for years to come